# BTC-Native Liquidity, Expanded Asset Support

Helios is first and foremost a **Bitcoin-native lending market**. Every loan is originated, risk-managed, and settled on Bitcoin mainnet; no wrapped coins or cross-chain bridges are involved. Yet the platform is flexible enough to support a broader universe of **Bitcoin-resident assets**, giving users more ways to earn yield or unlock liquidity.

## Supply Side - Earn yield in raw BTC

* **Pure BTC deposits**\
  Lenders can contribute satoshis directly to the protocol and accrue interest **denominated and paid out in BTC**, compounded every block.
* **Additional Bitcoin-based collateral**\
  If an asset is issued natively on Bitcoin—whether as a **Taproot Asset (e.g., USDT on the Taproot Assets protocol)**, a **Runes or RGB token**, or an **ERC-20 deployed on MIDL whose on-chain metadata auto-mints a Runes twin**—it can be whitelisted for supply. Interest is always collected in the same native unit, without leaving the Bitcoin security model.

## Borrow Side - Leverage or get access to liquidity

* **BTC-secured borrowing**\
  Users can post BTC as collateral to borrow additional BTC for trading, hedging, or yield strategies.
* **Stablecoin & token borrowing**\
  The same BTC collateral can unlock **Bitcoin-resident stable-value assets** (e.g., Taproot Assets USDT) or other natively issued tokens. All liabilities stay on the base layer, so borrowers never assume bridge or custody risk.

## Native Architecture

Traditional money markets on Ethereum rely on **wrapped BTC (WBTC)** held by a custodian, importing counter-party and bridge risk. Helios removes that layer entirely:

* Deposited BTC **never leaves Bitcoin**; it resides in TSS vaults controlled by an on-chain validator quorum.
* Non-BTC assets circulate via Bitcoin’s Taproot, Runes, or RGB frameworks, keeping every UTXO under Bitcoin consensus rules.

This structure channels Bitcoin’s vast, otherwise-idle balance sheet into productive lending while preserving the chain’s hallmark security and trust-minimization.
